


new york's worst kept secret

by sebastian2017



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: (That is not so secret), Fluff, Humor, Jewish Peter Parker, M/M, Meeting Family, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24218482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: Peter's finally ready to start letting people know that he and Johnny are dating. Unfortunately, it seems the cat's been out of the bag for quite a while.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Johnny Storm
Comments: 9
Kudos: 132
Collections: MCU RarePairs Bingo 2019





	new york's worst kept secret

**Author's Note:**

> using this to fill the 'free' square of the MCU rarepairs bingo. enjoy!

"We're going to have to tell everyone eventually, you know?" 

Peter's only reply is a grunt before pulling a pillow over his head and hiding under the covers. It's actually pretty adorable. Though to be fair, Johnny thinks everything Peter does is adorable. Still, he reminds himself to be strong. He cannot be distracted by Peter Parker's adorableness. He will not. He's faced down supervillains in the past, he knows he's strong enough to resist almost anything. (Though Peter Parker being adorable is a far stronger weapon than most of what the villains they face have.) 

Johnny moves to settle under the covers with him and reaches out to wrap his arms around him. And as much as Peter is complaining, he doesn't hesitate to scoot closer and wrap all of his limbs around Johnny. Still with his head under the pillow, though. He's stubborn, Johnny will give him that. 

"You know, I think you should petition to take back the octopus mascot from Doc Ock, because the way you cuddle? You're clearly the octopus here," Johnny teases. 

"Spiders can be clingy, too," Peter complains, muffled behind the pillow. 

"And somehow, no one talks about spiders cuddling." Johnny laughs. He reaches up to ease the pillow off his face and it's a good sign that it actually comes off instead of getting stuck to Peter's face with his weird sticky little spider hairs. "Babe, you know that hiding away in my bed isn't going to make it so that we don't have to tell people we're dating eventually." 

"Why can't we just have a secret relationship forever? It's kind of romantic, don't you think?" he suggests. 

Johnny looks entirely unimpressed. "Romantic is a picnic at the Statue of Liberty. Romantic is me showing up to the library when you're cramming for finals with your favorite Thai takeout. Romantic isn't hiding around eternally because you have something against telling people you're dating me." 

"You don't understand, Johnny. I was  _ very  _ vocal about my hatred for you for so long! How am I supposed to just turn around and tell people I'm dating you now?" Peter pouts and he looks so cute with his little pout that Johnny doesn't even get offended. 

"And I spent ages hating Spider-Man, so it's kind of even." 

"Totally not! Everyone knows you're the Human Torch. There's like less than a dozen people that know I'm Spider-Man. It's just going to look like you hooked up with Spider-Man's nerdy photographer. I bet you could spin it so it looks like you're dating me to get back to him." 

Johnny sighs and lays back on his pillow. This is going to be quite the few weeks, he can already tell. 

***

Trying to go public with their relationship is an ongoing battle. Johnny brings it up every chance he gets and Peter will always insist that his pride can't take it before changing the subject. Or distracting Johnny with kisses, with just as efficient changing the subject. Johnny can take on any sort of supervillain, but when faced with Peter, he's a weak, weak man. He's not sure how he's ever going to convince Peter when the choice is all but made for them. In a rather spectacularly embarrassing way. 

He and Peter are in his bed, fooling around as they often do when they both have the afternoon off. Johnny's just thankful they both still had their jeans on and that Peter hasn't gotten to leaving hickeys all over his shoulders, because if not, it would have been far more embarrassing when the door opens and Sue comes in with a suit from the dry cleaner's in hand. Peter yelps and immediately ducks under the covers until only a few tufts of brown hair are visible. 

Johnny's mortified, but he stays put and faces it like a man. Even if his cheeks are bright red from embarrassment. Sue doesn't seem the least big put off, though. She rolls her eyes a bit, like she'd always done when she found Johnny necking with some girl during high school, but doesn't seem surprised. She just goes to lay his suit down across a chair. 

"Hey, Peter. I didn't know you were here today," she comments. "I'm just dropping off one of Johnny's space suits that got dirty last week. You two go back to whatever you were doing. Maybe lock the door this time, though." 

Peter sticks his head out from under the covers, frowning rather adorably. "Are you not... surprised to see me here?" 

"Surprised to see my baby brother's boyfriend at our house? I mean, no. Not really." Sue shrugs. 

"His  _ what _ ?!" Peter squeals. 

Johnny reacts with far more grace and dignity. He only gawks at her. "You... knew?" 

"Was it supposed to be some big secret?" Sue frowns at them. "I mean, you'd never actually said, but it was pretty obvious, so I figured it was just one of those things we don't talk about, but that everyone knows." 

"You think everyone knows?" Peter asks. He looks queasy at the very thought and Johnny reaches over to pet his hair soothingly. 

Sue clearly sees her mistake and starts backtracking. "Well, probably not everyone. I'm sure not a lot of people know. But Johnny lives with us, so we've noticed you coming in and out and made our own conclusions. That's all. Sorry, Peter, I didn't realize it was supposed to be a secret." 

Peter lets out an undignified squeak. "When you say 'we'.... you mean the whole rest of the team?" 

"Yeah... But don't worry! Reed, Ben, and I can be very discreet," she promises. 

Peter lets out another horrified, vaguely human sounding noise and hides underneath their blankets again. Sue is more than happy to leave the rest in Johnny's hands and she scurries out. This time, Johnny gets up to lock the door quickly and then goes back to their bed. He pokes the Peter-shaped bundle under the blanket until Peter peaks his head out once more. 

"Can't you let me die in peace, Johnny?"

"Aww, there's no need to be so dramatic, Petey. So Sue knew. No big deal. She clearly didn't act any differently or we would have noticed by now. And she didn't give you any shit about the whole rivalry thing," Johnny points. "Someone knows and it's not the end of the world. Maybe we can use this as inspiration to go tell a few more people?" 

Peter sighs. "I'll think about it." 

****

'I'll think about it' has always been Peter Parker lingo for yes, but he's still too stubborn to actually say it, so Johnny's hopes have been high. He's had plenty of time to build his excitement, not to mention his anxiety about meeting people close to Peter. Johnny wasn't even this nervous before going into space, but rounding the corner to May Parker's place makes him feel like throwing up all over himself. He can't back out now, after pestering Peter so much about it, but he is shamelessly fishing for compliments and reassurances from Peter. 

"Are you sure I'm not underdressed? I can still zip back home for a blazer." 

"Aunt May's super casual. You look perfect, I promise." 

"And this brand of wine is okay? I forgot to double check if it's kosher." 

"She's not that observant, so I'm sure you're fine. Besides, you're Johnny Storm. You could show up half naked and empty handed, she'd still adore you." 

"Aww, thanks, babe!" 

Johnny kisses him on the cheek gratefully, as though half his intention hadn't been to get Peter to shower his ego a bit. Johnny's excellent at many things, but he's never been any good at meeting people's parents. Sure, it's only happened a few times with high school girlfriends, but those incidents all left him with unpleasant memories. Not to mention, those girls had been people he knew he'd be done with before the end of high school. Peter's someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with. 

When they pull up to Aunt May's porch, Johnny stops at the bottom of the steps to double check his hair on his phone's screen. Peter would normally find that pretty darn endearing, but today he just rolls his eyes and tugs Johnny over to the front door. Johnny doesn't even get a chance to whine about needing to look perfect, because Peter knocks once and Aunt May is already pulling the door open. God, Johnny hopes she hadn't been peeking out the window and seen him fussing over his hair. Perfection like his is supposed to look effortless. 

"Hello, you two! Come on in, dinner's on the stove," she greets, pulling them both into hugs. She even kisses Johnny's cheek before closing the front door and helping him with his coat. 

"Hi, Aunt May," Peter says shyly. He looks between her and Johnny, frowning a little. "Um, remember how I said I was bringing my boyfriend today? Well... here he is. I'm dating Johnny. I didn't want to say it over the phone." 

"Of course, darling, I think Johnny's going to like the dessert I made," she says, winking at him. "I made it with him in mind!" 

Peter's frown deepens. "Wait... How could you have made dessert with Johnny in mind? I'd never even said we were dating!" 

"I have eyes, darling. You didn't really think this was a surprise, was it?" Aunt May looks at Peter once more and gasps. "Oh, no. Was this supposed to be some formal sort of coming out dinner? I'm sorry, darling. We can start over, if you want." 

"No. Just... Let's go set the table." 

Peter grumbles a bit as he grabs Johnny's hand and tugs him over to the kitchen. Johnny shrugs apologetically in May's direction, stifling a laugh, and follows Peter. He can't say he's entirely surprised that she'd known already. After the incident with Sue, he'd actually sat down to think about it and realized they weren't nearly as subtle as they'd thought. Still, Peter had insisted that his aunt had no idea and he's sure this is coming off as an unpleasant surprise. 

While Peter tries to direct Johnny to all the plates and cutlery, Johnny decides dinner can wait a moment and he grabs Peter's hands in his so he can pull him closer for a kiss. "So, I guess your plans for a big reveal have been sort of foiled. Sorry, babe." 

"I just don't understand how she knew. Or how your sister knew!" Peter grumbles. "Who else knows? Is this like some big conspiracy going on behind our backs? I don't know what to think anymore." 

"I know. But... let's be honest, we're both pretty handsy and even back when we pretended to hate each other, the sexual tension was pretty obvious," he points out. 

"That's not..." Peter sighs, apparently realizing that there's really no point in arguing against what they all know is true. "I just can't believe your sister and my aunt knew and didn't say anything. Do you think maybe they're the exception? Because they're so close to us? I mean, it can't possibly be that  _ everyone  _ knows we were together." 

Johnny winces, because he has a feeling that's exactly what's going on here. "Well, how bout we start reaching out to friends and finding out?" 

"Sure. What's the worst that could happen?" 

****

As it turns out, the worst that could happen is that yes, absolutely every one of their friends had already figured out that Johnny and Peter are dating. Most of their friends just politely chuckle and say they already knew, but a few just laugh, thinking that this is some big practical joke. Peter always pouts when they laugh, which looks adorable, but always makes Johnny feel like a terrible boyfriend. 

When they make it back to Peter's apartment, Johnny sweeps him up into his arms immediately, placing kisses all over Peter's head until Peter starts laughing and squirms away. Content that Peter's smiling again, Johnny pulls back to look at him properly. 

"What's got you so tense, babe? You've just been like this little ball of stress ever since you realized so many people knew about us," Johnny says. "Are you embarrassed for people to know we're dating?" 

"No, of course not. I've made my peace with dating my arch enemy." Peter even manages a weak laugh. "On one hand, I guess I just feel silly, keeping this a big secret and wanting a big reveal when everyone just knew already. On the other, though, I guess I can't help but wonder if everyone knows my  _ other  _ big secret." 

"Ah. Well, it probably helps that it's impossible for you to accidentally compliment Spider-Man's ass and make everyone realize the hatred is actually a badly disguised crush... Which after saying out loud, I now realize is a really terrible comparison. What I mean is, you've always been way more careful about the Spidey thing than the me thing. I'm sure it's fine," he promises. 

"And if it's not? If everyone knows and is secretly laughing about it behind my back?" Peter pouts. 

Johnny just shrugs. "Then we'll just go out and officially be the world's biggest power couple, both in and out of the suit. And of course, the rest of the team and I will support you one hundred percent and make sure Aunt May stays safe. We'd get through it together. You're not exactly doing the solo act anymore, Spidey."

"I guess you're right, Johnny. That was secretly my only reason for dating you, you know? Accessing the Fantastic Four funds." 

"Damn. I always suspected, but it hurts my poor little heart to hear you say it out loud. You know what'll make me feel better? If you let me make it Instagram official." 

And Peter rolls his eyes at that, but he doesn't protest as Johnny pulls him closer and takes a picture of him kissing Peter's cheek for all of his Instagram followers. Not that it's needed, apparently. The two of them are New York's worst kept secret. 


End file.
